Celebrating the Holidays With the Hiltons

BEL AIR, Calif.—Do you know what will really get you into the holiday spirit? A party at Kathy and Rick Hilton's house.

ENLARGE

Kathy and Rick Hilton at their home
Tonya Wise

Ms. Hilton opened up the doors to her home late last week to show off the latest offerings from her fashion collection. Coincidentally, the evening before, Ms. Hilton's sister, Kyle Richards—she's one of those Real Housewives of Beverly Hills—threw a party at her new store on Brighton Way to benefit the charity Safe Passage with Bullets for Peace jewelry. (They repurpose bullets into jewelry.) The store is called Kyle By Alene Too. (It is an offshoot of Alene Too, a store in Boca Raton, Fla.)

Ms. Richards had a handful of her (sort of) co-stars there, including Lisa Vanderpump, whose Villa Blanca restaurant is just a few doors down and is eagerly awaiting the launch of her Bravo spinoff "Vanderpump Rules"; Camille Grammer, who's no longer on the show; and Carole Radziwill, one of the New York Housewives who happened to meet Ms. Richards on a recent plane ride from Manhattan to L.A.

ENLARGE

A dress from Ms. Hilton's new collection
Tonya Wise

Ms. Richards opened the store because she happened to be visiting its sister boutique on a book tour and "when I walked in I was, like, 'Oh my God, I'm obsessed with this. This is what I want in L.A. It has everything I love under one roof.' We actually have a bigger range of sizes than most stores in Beverly Hills. A 'large' in Beverly Hills can be a joke."

Though she has only been open a few months, Ms. Richards has discovered that if she tweets or Instagrams a photo of something, it usually sells quite well. "Those things go through the roof." In general, she finds that people "get their Botox and facials on Beauty Row and they pop-in and shop."

Of course, Kyle By Alene Too stocks jewelry by Ms. Richards's niece, Nicky, as well as dresses by Nicky's mother, Kathy. And the dresses by Kathy were at least part of the reason why Ms. Hilton had Christmasafied her house from top to bottom to show off her collection. It was an Instagramer's dream. There were animatronic, light-up nutcrackers outside her front door. There were a couple of little people dressed as elves bouncing around inside. There were four carolers singing Christmas songs and, of course, there was an appearance by Santa Claus, although he had a tiny little bit of trouble with the list at the door.

"Oh, that guy really looks like Santa," was the kind of thing you might hear from one of Ms. Hilton's guests.

"Hi Santa, I'm Kathy Hilton," Ms. Hilton greeted her guest of honor, and escorted him to one of her homey, big living rooms. "I think Santa can sit in the salon. Doesn't he look just like Mr. Claus?" Ms. Hilton said something about how he had come from the Beverly Hills Hotel, where she and her kids had visited him during their many years growing up. When we asked Santa where he had arrived from, he of course said "the North Pole."

Steven Cojocaru, the entertainment journalist, approached Ms. Hilton to say hello. "You look hot," he complimented her. "Kathy Hilton is hot. That's the headline." (Indeed Ms. Hilton did look particularly good in a two-piece part-leather ensemble she had arranged for herself just before the party.)

Ms. Hilton said she started her collection because many companies had approached her to do so. "And we're now in a time when no one wants to spend a fortune," she explained, so she was hoping to make something relatively affordable. Her long dresses run from $250 to $750, with shorter cocktail dresses at a less expensive price point. "These are dresses for my sisters, my daughters, my nieces."

Ms. Hilton added that she spends entirely too much time getting her home ready for the holiday season. She has an entire room in this house and hers in Long Island devoted to holiday items, from New Year's hats to Valentine cherubs. At the Bel Air home, there was one tree decorated with blue and silver to match the walls, and another, more traditionally green and red, featuring her baby shoes from her childhood as an ornament and more stuffed Rudolphs than you could count.

"I'm a toy collector," she said. "I like cluttering everything."

To complement the cookies left for Santa at the fireplace—he didn't seem to eat them—there was a raw bar with caviar and four different kinds of deviled eggs. There was also a psychic named Rebecca Fearing giving readings. Among the tidbits of information Ms. Fearing gave us: In a past life, we earned a living as a comedy star in vaudeville. Could you imagine a better holiday present than that?

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com.